Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

3 days ago

Trump Says He’s Willing to Let Migrant Farm Laborers Stay in US

3 days ago

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

4 days ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

4 days ago

Trump’s Sweeping Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Wins Congressional Approval

4 days ago

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

4 days ago

US Supreme Court to Decide Legality of Transgender School Sports Bans

4 days ago

Nvidia Set to Become the World’s Most Valuable Company in History

4 days ago

Poll: 41% in US ‘Extremely Proud’ to Be American, Near Historic Low

4 days ago
Teamwork, Hard Work is Key to Clovis Unified's Continued Success, Folmer Says at Annual Fundraiser
NANCY WEBSITE HEADSHOT 1
By Nancy Price, Multimedia Journalist
Published 2 years ago on
September 29, 2023

Share

Hard work as well as teamwork are key to achieving success, whether you’re the state’s 14th largest school district or a girls cross country team at a brand-new high school, Clovis Unified Superintendent Dr. Corinne Folmer said at Thursday’s 2023 State of the District Breakfast.

Folmer drew on her personal experience as a founding member of the Buchanan High School girls cross-country team during her inaugural address at the annual gathering, which is a fundraiser for the Foundation for Clovis Schools.

Back in the early 1990s, none of the seven girls on the Buchanan cross-country team had prior experience — Folmer said her sport was soccer, another was a softball player, a third a gymnast — but all of them were willing to put in the hard work to become the best runners they could be.

Individually they weren’t champions, but when they pulled together as a team they kept getting better, making their way through preliminary events and qualifying for the state finals at Woodward Park, Folmer said. When the race ended, Buchanan’s top five runners were in a tie for first place with Yucaipa High, a Southern California school, so the race’s outcome hinged on the time that the teams’ sixth runners had posted.

“We all had to give our best because we couldn’t know which runner was going to be the difference-maker,” Folmer said. “When Heather saw five of her teammates take the lead, she could have slowed down, knowing that she was no longer in one of those five scoring positions. But she left nothing on the course that day. And because of the entire team’s individual efforts towards — hear me say, one common goal — we succeeded.”

Buchanan won the state title, the first for a girls team from Clovis Unified, she said.

Watch: The superintendent’s full speech

Keeping Standards High

Folmer said the same lessons she learned as a cross-country runner can be applied to Clovis Unified today.

“Every day we are challenged to keep our standards high, we are as a district,” she said. “We’re challenged by a lot of different things out there to keep our standards high. We could look around us and feel that the odds are against us or that the work is too complex. But that isn’t Clovis Unified, it never has been, and it cannot be the standard we set for our students. They deserve our best.

“I said it earlier that we have close to 7,000 employees. On any given day, we don’t know exactly who will be the one, who’s going to be that sixth runner? We don’t know who will be the one that will make a difference for our students. And we all have to run our race as if today is our turn to do so.”

Clovis Unified’s drive for excellence includes in student academic performance, which has not yet bounced back after the pandemic, Folmer said. Although state standardized testing results have not been finalized, it appears that Clovis Unified students only saw a slight increase in math scores and no progress in English language scores, she said.

“What I do know is that our early analysis of the unofficial data that we received is that our students did not grow like we expected them to, and that’s unacceptable,” she said. ” … I also want to be clear that this is not an indication of the work ethic or effort of our incredible educational team. However, we recognize that we need to have a renewed focus on student learning outcomes.”

District Still Growing

Clovis Unified’s enrollment grew by about 600 students this year, increasing the need for expanding school facilities, especially in the southeast part of the district where a new elementary school and new educational center are under construction, Folmer said.

To complete them, the district will likely have to ask taxpayers to approve a new bond measure that will retain current taxing rates and provide future revenues to complete the Terry Bradley Educational Center, which will be the site of Clovis South High School, a middle school, and an elementary school, she said.

The high school is scheduled to open to its first students in the fall of 2025.

Local architect Mike Fennacy, chairman of the Foundation for Clovis Schools, said that since the school district can’t campaign for a bond measure, it’s up to community volunteers such as the foundation to help convince voters to approve it. And it will be needed, he said, partly to help alleviate the enrollment pressures in the Clovis East area, but also to keep other schools in the district in good shape.

Fennacy said he was uncertain how much money was raised by ticket sales and sponsorships of Thursday’s breakfast event at the Clovis Veterans Memorial Building, but he noted that more than 500 people attended.

They included educational leaders such as Fresno County Superintendent of Schools Michele Cantwell-Copher, Fresno Unified Superintendent Bob Nelson, and Fresno City College President Robert Pimentel, and Clovis Mayor Lynne Ashbeck.

The entertainment included a performance of “Dragons Love Tacos” by Cedarwood Elementary oral interpretation students and the “Star-Spangled Banner” performed by Buchanan’s chamber choir.

Funds raised through the breakfast event are used to support teacher projects, provide initial funding to new teachers for their classrooms, and scholarships to deserving students in the “Students of Promise” program, Fennacy said.

Foundation director Josh Phanco said the foundation has received a $1 million donation from a family with deep ties to Clovis Unified that has asked for anonymity. Three-fourths of the funds will go directly to the endowment established for the Doc Buchanan Leadership Academy, a leadership development program that’s a partnership between the foundation and district, Phanco said.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again

DON'T MISS

What’s Caitlin Clark Worth to the WNBA? A Lot More Than Her $78,066 Salary.

DON'T MISS

Trump to Sign Tax-Cut and Spending Bill in July 4 Ceremony

DON'T MISS

Madre Fire Spurs Evacuations Across 3 Counties, Grows to More Than 70,000 Acres

DON'T MISS

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

DON'T MISS

Oil Dips Ahead of Expected OPEC+ Output Increase

DON'T MISS

613 Killed at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites, Near Humanitarian Covoys, Says UN

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Authorities Investigating Suspicious Death of Transient Man

DON'T MISS

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

DON'T MISS

Israeli Military Kills 20 in Gaza as Trump Awaits Hamas Reply to Truce Proposal

UP NEXT

Fresno Unified’s Embattled Nikki Henry Exits. ‘I Own My Mistake. I Won’t Let It Own Me.’

UP NEXT

O’Brien Launches Fresno County Schools Chief Campaign by Handing Out ‘Homework’

UP NEXT

Labor Icon Huerta Breaks Ground on Fresno Park Bearing Her Name

UP NEXT

Trump’s Administration Finds Harvard Violated Students’ Civil Rights, WSJ Reports

UP NEXT

University of Virginia President Resigns Under Pressure From Trump Administration

UP NEXT

Despite $49M Deficit, Fresno Unified Gives Top Brass 5% Raise, 3% One-Time Bonus

UP NEXT

US House Committee Subpoenas Harvard Over Tuition Costs

UP NEXT

Why Is Usually Sleepy Fresno County Schools Superintendent Race Suddenly Hot?

UP NEXT

US Justice Department to Probe Hiring Practices at University of California

UP NEXT

What Does the Fresno County Schools Superintendent Do? Read This Q&A to Find Out

Nancy Price,
Multimedia Journalist
Nancy Price is a multimedia journalist for GV Wire. A longtime reporter and editor who has worked for newspapers in California, Florida, Alaska, Illinois and Kansas, Nancy joined GV Wire in July 2019. She previously worked as an assistant metro editor for 13 years at The Fresno Bee. Nancy earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Her hobbies include singing with the Fresno Master Chorale and volunteering with Fresno Filmworks. You can reach Nancy at 559-492-4087 or Send an Email

Merced Man Gets More Than 15 Years for Meth Trafficking, High-Speed Chase

51 minutes ago

Man Dead After Firing at US Border Patrol Station in Texas

3 hours ago

Tulare County Flume Fire Burns 65 Acres in Sequoia National Forest, Evacuation Order Issued

3 hours ago

Fresno County Fish Fire Burns 15 Acres Near Avocado Lake, 50% Contained

3 hours ago

Wanted Fugitive Found Hiding in Attic Arrested in Chowchilla

3 hours ago

Trump Says US Will Impose 25% Tariffs on Japan, South Korea

4 hours ago

Wall Street Knocked Lower by Tariff Jitters, Musk’s Political Plan Hurts Tesla

4 hours ago

Trial Over Free Speech on Campus, and Trump’s Student Crackdown, Begins

4 hours ago

Planned Parenthood Sues Trump Administration Over Planned Defunding

4 hours ago

San Luis Obispo’s Madre Fire Injures 1 Firefighter, Burns Over 80,000 Acres

4 hours ago

US Proposes Rules That Could Boost Oil, Gas Output in US West

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Interior Department on Monday proposed rule changes to allow energy companies to more easily combine oil and gas...

11 minutes ago

Model of natural gas pipeline and U.S. flag, July 18, 2022. (Reuters File)
11 minutes ago

US Proposes Rules That Could Boost Oil, Gas Output in US West

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington, June 27, 2025. For months, Bondi promised the release of documents on the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein that could reveal damaging details, drumming up anticipation over the files, long a source of speculation and conspiracy theories — but on Monday, July 7, a memo by the Justice Department undercut her own statements. (Pete Marovich/The New York Times)
24 minutes ago

Trump Administration Acknowledges Lack of Evidence From Epstein Documents

U.S. dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration taken May 4, 2025. (Reuters File)
36 minutes ago

Dollar rises after Trump announces Japan, South Korea tariffs

A U.S. Justice Department logo or seal showing Justice Department headquarters, known as "Main Justice," is seen behind the podium in the Department's headquarters briefing room before a news conference with the Attorney General in Washington, January 24, 2023. (Reuters File)
51 minutes ago

Merced Man Gets More Than 15 Years for Meth Trafficking, High-Speed Chase

Photo of caution tape
3 hours ago

Man Dead After Firing at US Border Patrol Station in Texas

The Flume Fire in Sequoia National Forest has burned 65 acres near Highway 190 with no containment as of Monday, July 7, 2025, prompting evacuations in Tulare County. (CalFire)
3 hours ago

Tulare County Flume Fire Burns 65 Acres in Sequoia National Forest, Evacuation Order Issued

Firefighters stopped the forward progress of the Fish Fire near Avocado Lake after it burned 15 acres Monday, July 7, 2025, reaching 50% containment. (CalFire)
3 hours ago

Fresno County Fish Fire Burns 15 Acres Near Avocado Lake, 50% Contained

Gary White, 42, a wanted fugitive, was arrested in Chowchilla after deputies found him hiding in an attic and he surrendered without incident on Thursday, July 3, 2025. (Madera County SO)
3 hours ago

Wanted Fugitive Found Hiding in Attic Arrested in Chowchilla

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend